


It Wasn't Meant To Go Like This

by hakunamontana



Category: Wynonna Earp - Fandom
Genre: AU, F/F, Gen, Willa is alive and still an asshole, Witness Protection AU, bobo isn't a revenant but he's still a dickbag, but not really, the curse is still a thing but doesn't follow canon, there is angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-11-30 16:12:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11467092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hakunamontana/pseuds/hakunamontana
Summary: Nicole Haught moves to purgatory under mysterious circumstances, and falls for Waverly Earp, who has just as many secrets.





	1. Chapter 1

Waverly had heard the occasional clang of metal against metal, or of what sounded like somebody hitting a boxing bag over the past few nights when Shorty’s was slow. But it wasn’t until she was closing down the bar at 2am on a Sunday morning that, after finally letting her curiosity about the new tenant, she decided to go up and introduce herself. She could hear music from the bottom of the stairs which she took as a sign that the mystery tenant was still awake and though it stopped when she was half way up she figured that they couldn’t have already fallen asleep and carried on. 

A brief moment after she knocked the door swung open to reveal the new tenant. A tall red headed women who was pulling a t-shirt over her torso and wearing an expression of drowsy confusion. Waverly’s eyes drawn to how her ab muscles tensed briefly as the cold air touched them before she pulled the shirt down over herself completely. Then to her face, with cloudy sleep filled eyes and furrowed eyebrows looking down at her. She stared for a moment before reaching her hand out to the taller girl, “Hi, I’m Waverly. I work downstairs and I thought it was about time that I came to say hi.” 

“You had this thought at 2am on a Sunday morning?” She took the smaller girl’s hand, instantly noting how soft her skin was, and how much warmer it was than her own. 

“Well yeah. I could hear your music playing while I was cleaning downstairs and figured that now was as good a time as any,” the redhead could hear a nervous edge to her voice, despite her cheery tone, “I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name…?” 

“Oh, it’s uh, it’s Nicole. Do you want to come in?” She stepped back from the door but Waverly stayed put.

“Actually I was going to ask if you wanted to come downstairs for a drink or something. Though now that I’ve said that it occurs to me that it is in fact 2am on a Sunday morning and you don’t know me so that is probably a weird invitation,” The nervousness in her voice growing with each rambling sentence, much like the smile on Nicole face as she watched her. 

“You know what, yeah. I would love to have a drink with you. Just let me grab some socks and I’ll be right down.” It dawned on her straight away that getting socks was probably strangest thing to think to get before going to get a drink with a girl. But she was still adjusting to how cold Purgatory was and even just standing in the doorway had made her feet much colder. 

“Okay great! I’ll see you down there in a minute then,” She beamed at Nicole before swiftly turning on her heel and heading back down the stairs. 

No more than 90 seconds later Nicole was sitting at the bar across from Waverly, watching as she seemed dance around behind the bar getting glasses and mixing herself a drink. All the gracefulness was lost however, when she tried to get Nicole a beer and the tap started spray her, leaving her standing stiff behind the tap with a drenched shirt and a looking more startled than Nicole had when she found out she was going to have to leave her home and life to move to Purgatory. The two looked at each other for a moment before Nicole couldn’t keep her cool and burst in laughter while Waverly grabbed a towel and started to dry herself off, who laughed too after recovering from the initial surprise of being sprayed with beer. Upon realizing that the towel was wet too Waverly dropped her hands to her side and hung her head, an action that Nicole couldn’t help but break into another round of laughter at. It was short lived however when Waverly started to take her wet shirt off, right in front of Nicole, causing her to choke on her laugh and spin away from the bar at such speed that she almost fell off her stool. 

“Hey, Nicole. I’m uh, I’m stuck. Can you give me a hand?” She had both hands over her head with the shirt twisted around them and over her face. The absolute last thing Nicole wanted was to be closer to the smaller girl, she knew what was bound to happen if she let herself get caught up in her radiant smile and her, just incredible body… Nevertheless she couldn’t leave Waverly standing there stuck in a wet shirt. Waverly on the other hand, was thanking whatever divine being there might be that she wasn’t with a guy, who would no doubt take as long as possible to help her so he could stare. Nicole however was on her side of the bar in a flash helping her get the shirt over her head. Her hands cold against Waverly’s skin, but her touch so soft that it was barely noticeable. She even found herself hoping that she would be able to stay so close to her. A thought which confused her since the last person she felt so drawn to was her ex Champ. It wasn’t that Waverly hadn’t found herself attracted to women before, just never like this before. Never anything more than an aesthetic attraction. 

“You okay...?” Waverly snapped back to attention from her daydream about what it would be like to be that close to Nicole all the time, perhaps even closer. Nicole was waving a hand in front of her face, holding her wet shirt in the other. She had taken a step back from Waverly but was still closer than a stranger would normally be, still within an arm's reach. Nicole looked around Waverly, doing her best to not look at Waverly standing there in just her bra and jeans. Waverly taking minor offence before it dawned on her that she was almost half naked in front of a stranger.

“I should get something to cover myself,” She said before retreating to the kitchen behind the bar. Giving Nicole a moment to steel herself, while also having a momentary thought about taking Waverly’s shirt off in another circumstance. “And my sister took my clean shirt that I keep in the back so I guess I’m stuck like this until I get home.” 

“You can take one of my shirts, I can run back upstairs and get you one,” She was halfway to the stairs before Waverly could even think to decline the offer, instead opting to follow her up. She had only just reached the door to Nicole's apartment when she swung back through the doorway and straight into her, almost knocking her off her feet if not for Nicole grabbing her arms to steady her. “My bad, I didn’t know you were there. Here.” It wasn’t until she handed her the shirt that she realized which one it was.

“Toronto PD eh, Officer Haught,” Waverly pulled the shirt over her head, “What’s a city cop doing living above a bar on the opposite side of the country?” Panic flooded Nicole's whole body. How could she have been so careless to let her past get out so quickly. Waverly must have seen the panic in Nicole's face because she seemed to change her idea of where the shirt came from quickly. “Unless it’s not your shirt I mean…” She smiled at Nicole who gratefully returned it. Praying that her cover wasn’t blown completely and that she would still be safe in Purgatory until it was safe to go back home. 

A moment of silence passed between the two as they stood in the doorway to Nicole's apartment looking at each other, both trying to think of something to say to break the tension. “I should let you get to sleep, you know, since it's after 2am,” Waverly finally spoke, turning on her heel to go back down to the bar and finish closing up. “It was good to meet you, I still owe you a drink so if you wanna come down to the bar some other time… Or not. Up to you. Goodnight.” 

“Night,” she said barely above a whisper, trying to figure out what she had done to make the Waverly leave so quickly. Wondering if she had made her uncomfortable somehow. She closed her door and leaned back against it, and sighed she couldn’t help the instant fondness she felt for Waverly, a girl who knocked on her door at 2am just to say hi. 

When she was safely behind the wheel of her jeep outside Shorty’s, still able to see a light on in Nicole's apartment. Still trying to get her mind off how her abs had flexed at the draught, the sound of her laugh, or how soft her touch was against her skin. She dropped her head onto the steering wheel and let out a frustrated groan. Then started the engine before lifting her head and leaving the carpark to drive home.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicole gets a drink with Waverly

“Wynonna… are you standing in the rubbish???” Waverly had seen her sister doing some weird things since she got back but standing in the bin while eating a doughnut was the strangest by far.

 

“I need to squash it down to fit more stuff in it, duh,” She jumped a few times before stepping out of the bin and gesturing to it “See, now there’s more room.” She knew it annoyed Waverly when she refused to take out the rubbish, but she was in a mood after the night she had had with Dolls trying to explain the Earp curse to him and didn’t really care is her sister was annoyed with her for stomping down the rubbish. 

 

“Couldn’t just take the trash out? Instead of standing in it?” Though she wasn’t really asking, more going through the normal process of human interaction. Something her sister never really seemed to grasp, maybe it was a byproduct of being the Earp heir, being weird that it. Maybe Wynonna was just a little weird by nature. Either way she was weird and Waverly had learnt it was best to not try and offer a counterpoint unless it would mean less effort for her sister. 

 

“You were home later than normal…” Wynonna kicked the bin back under the counter before propping herself onto the counter.

 

“Is that a question or an observation?” She hoped it wasn’t a question because she didn’t really want to explain to her sister that she was in her bra in the bar with a stranger who she invited for a drink at 2am. 

 

“Question.” She could see the nervousness in her sister. She hoped she wasn’t going to tell her that she was with Champ. Though something about the way Waverly looked down at the table in front of her told her it wasn’t Champ. Whatever the reason it wasn’t embarrassment. 

 

“I went up to say hi to the person who moved in above Shorty’s. Her name’s Nicole, she’s uh, she’s nice,” she tried to stop a smile but failed. 

 

“Nice, huh? Not a tall redhead by any chance?” Waverly nodded at her sister, trying to work out how Wynonna knew what she looked like. “She was in the diner the other day, Champ tried to hit on her.” Of course he did, he’d tried to get with every girl in town since they broke up, not that he wasn’t doing that while they were together. Though maybe since Nicole was new in town he might fall for his bullshit. 

  
  


“Oh? Well I guess that makes sense, he is very pretty, and that’s his type.” All traces of her smile gone. 

 

“She looked like she wanted to deck him. Please tell me you aren’t regretting dumping him.” She dropped herself back onto the kitchen floor before grabbing her gun from the table and turning for the door.

 

“What? Of course not.” 

 

“Good, you could do so much better. I gotta go because I’m already late and Doll’s is waiting.” Wynonna called back to Waverly, “Catch you later babygirl.”

* * *

 

 

It was mid afternoon when Nicole decided to go and see if Waverly was working downstairs. After spending all morning trying to weigh up the pros and cons of seeing her twice within 12 hours. The pros being: seeing Waverly. While the cons were made a much longer list that ended with  _ “you almost blew your cover by giving her your shirt after she got hers wet.” _ So she decided to give it more than 12 hours, and then she would go and say a casual hello while on her way through the bar. Though the planning of exactly what she was going to say and how had taken almost all of the casualness. She just didn’t want to freak Waverly out since she was the first person she had met in the 2 weeks she had been in Purgatory that hadn’t asked her a lot of questions that she couldn't answer about why she moved here. 

 

So she waited. Until 7:17pm so as to not seem like she was planning on going to see waverly or anything. She hesitated in the doorway before turning back to go inside when a voice came up the stairs.

 

“Nicole, hi!” Of course it was Waverly, climbing the stairs up towards her, with what looked to be blood on her shirt.

 

“Waverly, are you okay?” Waverly looked at her, confused, then down at herself. 

 

“Oh! No this is nothing, just got a cut from a broken glass, I just came up to clean myself up. How are you today?” She walked past Nicole into a small room at the end of the hall, poking her head back out and gesturing for Nicole to follow “Unless you have somewhere to be.” Nicole shook her head and followed her into what she found to storeroom filled with bottles and papers, all cluttered together. She looked around the room, noting how many of the papers had the name  _ Earp _ on them. “Nicole?” She whipped her head back to Waverly, who was, once again without a shirt, though she had a clean one this time. “How are you? You look a little frazzled” She definitely was. 

 

“Yeah, sorry. Yeah I’m okay, a little tired. Ho-”

 

“Oh I hope that’s not because I kept you up this morning.” She had pulled her clean shirt on and was now shuffling through drawers of the desk with all the Earp papers. Nicole couldn’t help but watch her, and how her moved with such grace. Like she knew exactly where what she was looking for was but was simply shuffling through the drawers for the sake of messing them up. “Ah, found it,” she pulled out a first aid kit and set it on the desk, turning back to smile at Nicole, seemingly encouraging her to talk.

 

“No, it wasn’t. I’m still getting used to the quiet. I’m used to the city noise when I go to sleep.” She knew she shouldn't really be talking about anything about her past, but she figured that just saying that she used to live in a city wasn’t too risky. Waverly smiled at her again, struggling to cutting a piece of gauze from the first aid kit. “Here, let me help,” She took the gauze and scissors from Waverly with one hand and her cut hand with the other. 

 

Waverly was surprised to feel how warm Nicole's hands were now, after being so cold last time they touched. Her touch was still as soft though, hardly noticeable, as if she would break. She watched Nicole dress her cut, with amazement at how quickly and expertly she did, looking up at Waverly as if seeking confirmation that it wasn’t too tight or anything. Waverly nodded and squeezed Nicole’s hand softly as a thanks. She wasn’t sure why she didn’t just say it, she just felt like what she did was better. 

 

“All patched up, I should let you get back to work. I’ve taken up enough of your time,” She stood to leave but was caught by waverly refusing to let go of her hand. 

 

“You don’t have to go…” she looked at Nicole, trying to think of a reason to stop her leaving. “I still owe you a drink.” Nicole smiled down at her, nodding her head. 

 

“Okay, if you're sure you don’t mind my company.” Waverly darted back to her feet, beaming at Nicole and practically dragging her down the hall and then the stairs. Nicole couldn’t help the feeling in her stomach. Nerves, mixed with dread at the realization that she had a slight crush on Waverly. 

 

“So, Waverly Earp. The girl who will take her top off in front of a stranger,” Waverly’s attempt at a rebuttal met with a finger to the mouth from a drunk Nicole. “I’m not finished, and will knock on your door at 2am to introduce herself. How are you single?” She dropped her hand from Waverly’s mouth and gestured that it was her turn to talk. Waverly paused for a moment, watching a drunk Nicole try to look pensive with her hand under her chin. Before looking over to Champ, who was by the pool table trying to hit on her friend Chissy. “Oh, I see. You like the pretty boy with no game.” 

 

“He’s my ex, and I most definitely do not like him.”  Waverly didn’t really feel like talking about Champ. Not only was their history a long story, but it wasn’t a particularly interesting one.  

  
  


“Oh thank god! You can do so much better,” She downed the last of her drink. “What happened? Between the two of you I mean.”  

 

“We got together in high school. I loved him because he thought I was hot and when you’re 15 that’s all that matters to you. We we’re together for about 6 years, pretty happily. Then I realized that I wanted more from life than what Champ could give me so I broke up with him. Oh and he almost slept with my sister.” Now it was her turn to down her drink, glaring at Champ when he looked over at her and made a face that could only mean  _ “I’m winning this break up.”  _ Not that she cared, the idea of a breakup being a competition was juvenile. Plus she dumped him so he had already won. Nicole nodded slowly

 

“Sounds like he was a dick. I wished I had decked him the other day when he hit on me.” 

 

“You sound like my sister, Wynonna. She wasn't a fan of him either, not that she was around for most of my relationship with him.” 

 

“That sounds like a much more interesting story than your dating past with,” she gestured towards Champ over her shoulder. 

 

“Maybe some other time.” Nicole nodded in agreement, drunken smile still pasted to her face.

 

“I don’t know anything about you, not even your last name?” Waverly poured them two more drinks before being flagged down by a man with a moustache. “So when I get back you’re gonna tell me all about yourself.” 

 

Nicole began to panic. She knew all her cover life details, but she also felt like Waverly was really trying to be her friend (even if that was all she wanted to be.) She knew that even if she was in Purgatory for a while she’d either be lying to Waverly about who she was, or have to leave again once they became friends. But before she had a real chance to weigh up her options Waverly was back, looking at her like she was the only person in the bar. Nicole knew she would tell her anything she asked, even if it was all a lie at this point. 

 

“Smith. My last name. Born and raised in Vancouver. Parents are divorced, no siblings. Played tennis all through school. Went to university in Toronto, studied journalism. Currently unemployed and moved here to get a fresh start. That’s about it.” She hated that she had just lied through her teeth to Waverly, and wanted nothing more than to tell her the truth. She couldn’t though. There were rules and she had to stick to them. Maybe when she got the all clear to go home she could tell her the truth. Maybe she could find a way to keep Waverly as a part of her life. She was still looking at her like she was the only person in the room, and Nicole couldn’t take the eye contact knowing that she was lying. She reached for her phone, knowing that there would be nothing to check. Nobody knew where she was, nobody could get into contact with her. 

 

“Waiting for somebody to call?” Waverly asked, her head tilted to the side. “...at 1:30am” 

 

“Oh jesus, is it that late already?” She felt like she had only been sitting with Waverly for a hour or so, not 6. 

 

“Yeah, I gotta close down in half an hour if there’s anybody still here but if you want to go to bed feel free.” Nicole looked around the bar, it looked like Champ and whoever he was with had left, leaving just the two of them and the man with a moustache in the bar. “Hey Doc, any chance you’d be willing to split so I can close early?” 

 

“Of course darlin’, anything for you.” Doc smiled as he sauntered over to lean on the bar next to Nicole, “and who is this lovely lady right here?” He took her hand and shook it, tipping his hat to her. 

 

“This is Nicole, she lives upstairs.” Nicole watched him, look at Waverly and smile, leaning over the bar towards her. Acting as though she wasn’t even there. 

 

“Well it was lovely to meet you Nicole. I will see you later Waverly, you two have a good night,” and with that he left. Nicole still watching him until the door closed behind him. 

 

“Don’t let him fool you, he’s a good guy. Like a brother to me, in a weird kind of way I guess…” She trailed off, before shaking whatever thought she was having off and wiping down the bar a final time. “Would you mind giving me a hand stacking the chairs?” 

 

“Of course.” 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been two weeks and Waverly and Nicole are becoming good friends. But Nicole is being a little distant due to things going on in her life, to which Waverly decides to confront her about after one too many drinks.

“Oh my god Waverly. Either go up and knock on her door, or stop watching the stairs hoping that she’ll come down and spend time with your sister. Wynonna said, sitting across at the bar next to Waverly. Looking at her phone. 

 

“Yeah maybe I should. She hasn’t replied to my text,” Waverly turned back for the stairs and looked at her sister “Are you kidding me? You’ve been giving me shit for the past two weeks for texting Nicole and yet you’re staring at your phone waiting for Dolls to text you and tell you he’s back from wherever he is? Does that not seem at all hypocritical to you?” 

 

“Mine’s work, yours is just good old fashion friendship. Its disgusting.” She fumbled around the bar for her glass before taking a sip, never taking her eyes off her phone. “Where the fuck is he? He said 3 days. It’s been a week.” Waverly rolled her eyes at her sister, she had become attached to Dolls, and to Doc. Which left her in some very awkward black badge meetings when the male rivalry spilled over and Wynonna only made it worse by making a sarcastic comment. 

 

“Whatever yours is, it’s starting to seem desperate.” Waverly picked up her phone, typing a text to nicole before deleting it and putting her phone back onto the bar. 

 

“And you don’t? Like I know you’re happy to have a friend other than Steph and Chrissy but you don’t wanna scare her off do you?” Wynonna had a point, but she hadn’t seen Nicole in the past few days and last time she did Nicole had left really quickly after getting a phone call. Waverly downed the rest of her drink before snatching Wynonna’s phone from her hand and dragging her towards a pool table.

 

“You’re right. No phone’s for the rest of the night. We’re gonna do some sister bonding.” Wynonna groaned before agreeing.

* * *

 

 

“Miss Haught what do you mean you gave somebody your real name?” Nicole was sitting in an interrogation room at the Purgatory PD with two Mounties across from her. One staring her down, the other writing notes in a  file. 

 

“Just my first name. I had a momentary lapse and forgot the one you gave me, I didn’t blow my cover, I swear.” 

 

“Any other ‘lapses’ as you put it?” Both Mounties now staring her down. She almost felt like she should be feeling guilty. 

 

“No, just the one. Can we move on? Has there been any progress on finding Del Rey.” The marshalls looked at each other before standing and leaving the room without a word. Nicole was starting to get used to this by now, being left in interrogation rooms while everybody else went about their jobs. Something that Nicole missed, working. More specifically being a cop. Part of her wished she had never made the bust that had landed her where she was. But another, much larger part knew that her suffering in boredom for a few months until they caught Bobo was for the greater good. 

 

Nicole watched the clock for a solid 15 minutes before checking her phone, knowing that she wouldn’t get a signal but if she looked at the clock any longer she was going to lose it. The Mounties weren’t normally gone for this long. She unlocked her phone and opened her messages with Waverly, the only upside to being sent to some backwater town outside of Calgary. One of the Mounties came back into the room and stood across the table from her, looking down at her. 

 

“He’s gone to ground. We haven’t been able to find any leads on where he’s gone. The good news is that you aren’t being pulled from Purgatory and sent somewhere else,” He walked back to the door and held it open, looking to Nicole to signal that she could leave. “But Haught, don’t let anything else slip or you’ll be going to ground until this is resolved.” Nicole nodded and practically ran from the room and then the building.

* * *

 

 

She had just stepped through the front door to Shorty’s, planning to go straight up to her apartment and take a shower. Though this plan went out the window when Waverly, and her sister Wynonna caught a sight of her and started beckoning her over to join them at the back of the bar with an almost empty bottle of whiskey between them. Nicole took a deep breath and put on a smile. As much as she didn’t want to socialize, she couldn’t bring herself to pass up a chance to hang out with Waverly. “Hey, Waves!” She sat down at the table with them, “Wynonna, hi.” Though she was much more occupied by her phone. 

 

“Wynonna, we said no phones!” Waverly glared at her sister for a brief moment before turning her attention back to Nicole. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” Waverly smiled at her and it brought back all of the guilty feelings Nicole had been trying to ignore about lying to her about everything except her first fame. “Hey, are you okay?” Nicole couldn’t bear it, she was too tired to lie to her today, she nodded her head before standing again. 

 

“Yeah, I’m just tired. I’ll catch you later,” She turned to headed towards the stairs to her apartment. She was halfway up the stairs when she heard Waverly tell her sister to hold tight and then she could hear her following her up the stairs as she reached her door. She turned and leant on the door, watching Waverly climb the stairs with a heavier step than normal, most likely due to how drunk she was. Waverly joined Nicole outside her door, standing much closer to her than what Nicole was used to, not that she was complaining. 

 

“Nicole, are you avoiding me?” Waverly leaned back against the wall and took Nicole's hand with her own. “Because if I’ve done something to make you want to avoid me you can tell me. I mean I like you Nicole, and I really want to be your friend, but if you don’t want to be mine I’d understand. You wouldn’t be the first person.” Waverly looked down at Nicole's hand in her own. Thinking about all the people that had walked out of her life for whatever reason, though generally related to her last name. Even Wynonna had run away because of their last name. Well and the curse of course, but that was all her last name too in a way. Nicole gave her hand a slight squeeze, bringing her eyes back up to meet Nicole’s. 

 

“I’m not avoiding you Waverly, I promise. I’m just really not in the mood for the whole drinking in a bar thing tonight,” she smiled down to Waverly, bringing a tightness to her chest that Waverly had become accustomed to since meeting Nicole about three week earlier. Waverly tried to smile back at her but couldn’t fake it in her drunken state. “Are you okay? You seem upset,” Nicole ran her hand up Waverly’s arm and looked at her with a softness in her face that Waverly really loved. She shook her head at Nicole. “Do you wanna come in and talk about it?” Nicole opened the door to her apartment, “Unless you need to get back to Wynonna.” Waverly rolled herself from the wall around into the doorway and through to Nicole’s apartment. 

 

“She’s too busy waiting for her boss to come back to town, she won’t notice if I’m gone,” Waverly dropped herself onto the bed in the corner of the room. Nicole followed her, sitting next to her on the bed and looking at Waverly, waiting for her to talk. Somehow Nicole made Waverly feel safe. A feeling she wasn’t used to living in a town overrun by revenants who wanted her whole family dead. “It’s all just a lot you know? Like everything. Everything is moving too fast, and I just want everything to slow down so I can have a minute to catch my breath.” She lay back onto Nicole's bed and looked at the ceiling. Nicole joined her in looking at the ceiling, their shoulder touching. 

 

“I can’t stop time for you Waves, but if you want to stay up here for a while and pretend it’s stopped you can,” Waverly nodded, and Nicole stood up and crossed the room towards her bathroom. “I’m going to take a shower, if you wanna watch TV or something the remote is in the drawer. I’ll be back soon,” She closed the door behind her, leaving Waverly alone in her apartment. She stayed where she was for a little while eyes closed, listening to the sound of the shower running and the distant sound of Shorty’s downstairs. She really did feel like everything had stopped moving, as if everything that existed outside the room was miles away. 

 

A short while later Nicole came back into the main room of her tiny apartment to find Waverly lying exactly as she was when she left, only now her eyes were closed and her arms stretched out on either side of her. Nicole grabbed the TV remote from the drawer before turning the light off and dropped herself onto the ratty old couch in that was normally home to her dirty clothes. She muted the TV so as not to disturb Waverly who appeared to be asleep. She wasn’t very comfortable bc the couch was really not in any shape to be used as a seat anymore. The silence was broken by Waverly’s phone ringing, though she ignored it and it stopped before Nicole could answer it for her. She saw that it had been Wynonna and turned to the door to go downstairs to find Wynonna. Though just as she opened the door Wynonna was coming up the stairs, “What’s up red? Is Waverly in there? She didn’t answer her phone.” 

 

“Yeah she is. She came up to talk to me, but she kind of fell asleep,” Nicole moved from the door so Wynonna could see into the room and see that her little sister was okay. Wynonna looked at her sister and gave a slight smile before looking back to Nicole. 

 

“Is she okay here?” She meant it in more than one way. She wanted to know not only if Nicole was okay with Waverly falling asleep in her apartment, and also if she would be safe with Nicole. Nicole nodded, acknowledging both meaning of the question. Her and Nicole stood looking at each other for a moment longer before Wynonna headed back down the stairs. 

 

“Nicole?” Waverly’s voice interrupted Nicole’s thoughts about why Wynonna was so protective of her younger sister. She understood to an extent, she had a younger sister who she was protective of too. Just not nearly as much as Wynonna was. Maybe it was because they were the only family each other had, Nicole couldn't imagine what that must be like for them. 

 

“You’re awake. Wynonna and I didn’t wake you did we?” Waverly sat up and shifted to sit at the top of the bed leaning against the wall. 

 

“I wasn’t asleep. I was just liking the quiet. Wynonna doesn’t really sleep so it’s always so loud at the homestead.” Nicole closed the door and crossed to sit on the edge of her bed. 

 

“If you want to stay here tonight you’re more than welcome. We can talk if you want, or you could enjoy the quiet while I watch a movie on mute,” Waverly shook her head. 

 

“Or we could both watch a movie that’s not on mute? I mean unless you enjoy watching them on mute,” Nicole laughed and really Waverly smiled for the first time since her sister had  _ “accidentally” _ hit Champ in the groin with a pool cue earlier in the afternoon. 

 

“No, I normally have the sound on, you pick something.” Nicole handed over the remote and shifted to sit next to Waverly on the bed. 

 

Barely 30 minutes into the movie Waverly had fallen asleep with her head on Nicole’s shoulder, and since the movie she had chosen was terrible Nicole turned it off and moved to go to sleep, waking Waverly in the process. Though only enough for her to shift down under the covers and shuffle closer to Nicole. “G’night Nic… love you.”

 

Nicole wasn’t sure she had heard the last part right, but even if she had she was certain it was meant in a purely platonic way. She couldn’t help herself from hoping that she had heard it right, and that maybe it was more than just as friends.    


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waverly sleeps at Nicole's apartment and they're both kinda gay

When Waverly woke up a couple hours later her head was resting on Nicole’s shoulder she was holding onto her arm. She thought about moving, in case Nicole woke up and found it weird to have Waverly cuddling her. Ultimately she decided being comfortable and close to Nicole was worth the risk of her finding Waverly a little weird. She closed her eyes again and dozed back off into sleep. When she woke up again Nicole’s arm was around her and she had her own arm around Nicole’s waist, and her face hidden in her neck. The wind had picked up and the temperature in Nicole’s apartment had dropped. Despite this Nicole was still radiating heat, all the more reason for Waverly to stay snuggled close to her.  Waverly held a little hope that maybe the sun wouldn’t come up and that Nicole wouldn’t wake up so that she could stay in her arms for as long as possible. 

 

Waverly was woken again by something hitting her in the face. It wasn’t until Nicole started mumbling in her sleep that she realized that it had been Nicole’s chin that had woken her. She couldn’t understand what she was saying other than the name Bobo. Nicole jerked upright. Flipping Waverly in the process. It took her a moment to get reoriented and realize what was going on. By which point Nicole had already gotten up and gone into the bathroom. Waverly could hear the faucet running and water splashing. She was sitting crossed legged in the middle of Nicole’s bed. She wanted to go check on her, but it seemed like she had it under control. The water stopped running and Nicole walked back out into the main room, leaving the light on in the bathroom. She didn’t seem to even see Waverly, who watched her cross the room and punch the bag hanging in the corner. 

 

“N-Nicole…” Waverly started barely above a whisper “Are you okay?” Nicole whipped her head around, her hand fumbling for something at her hip that wasn’t there before her gaze landed on Waverly. 

 

“Yeah, no, sorry. Bad dream. I completely forgot that you were here. Did I wake you?” Nicole turned the bathroom light off again and joined Waverly sitting on the bed. 

 

“Yeah, but it’s fine. Are you okay?” Nicole nodded and fell back onto her back, staring at the ceiling as Waverly had been just hours ago was sign enough to Waverly that she was not in fact okay, but that maybe she didn’t want to talk about it. They sat in silence for a few minutes, Nicole with her arm over her face, and Waverly watching how Nicole’s chest rose and fell as she breathed. “Hey Nic, why did you want a fresh start when you moved here?” Nicole sighed and sat up, turning the lamp next to her bed on so they weren’t in the dark. 

 

“Uh, well…” Waverly could see that she didn’t really want to talk about it so she decided she wouldn’t push if Nicole didn’t want to talk about it. “There are some people back in Toronto who made it hard for me to be there, so I guess I moved here to get away from them.” She wasn’t convincing, and Waverly didn’t miss the fact that Nicole wouldn’t make eye contact, just like she every other time they had spoken about anything from before she moved to Purgatory. 

 

“Was one of them called Bobo?” Nicole had that same panic in her eyes as when she had given Waverly the Toronto PD shirt. 

 

“Where did you hear that name?” The panic had made it’s way into Nicole’s voice now.

 

“You said it in your sleep, just before you woke up. It’s weird because I know a Bobo too. It’s not really a name you’d think a lot of people would have.” Waverly looked at Nicole, who stared right back at her. The intensity of her stare was nothing new to Waverly. In fact it was something that Waverly found extremely alluring about her (not the only thing mind you.) Waverly was the first to blink, but she refused to be the first to look away. She had spent most of her friendship with Nicole backing off whenever it seemed as though there might be something unspoken hanging in the air, She didn’t know what it was, though she knew what she hoped it was, but she was determined to figure out what it was. So she just stared at Nicole, trying to replicate her intensity. 

 

Nicole on the other hand was racking her brain trying to think of a way to change the subject away from Bobo before Waverly found out why Nicole was really in Purgatory and that while it had nothing to do with wanting a new beginning it did have everything to do with him. The silence between the two hadn’t gone a miss on Nicole, who was very aware that Waverly was staring right back at her. Nicole’s mind began to wander from Bobo and what explanation she could give to Waverly, and how the soft light from the lamp cast shadows on her face and how she furrowed her brows slightly at Nicole when she stared, she looked breathtaking. She could sense that Waverly wasn’t going to let her change the subject, let alone change it herself. She wanted answers, and Nicole knew she wasn’t going to be able to withhold this one. She took a breath and closed her eyes for a beat before meeting Waverly’s gaze again. “Yes, there was a guy called Bobo back in Toronto.”

 

 It felt like a weight had been lifted from her chest. Finally not everything that Waverly knew about her past was a lie. While she still didn’t know the details she hoped her admission would be enough for her. Waverly nodded, seeming quite proud of herself. Though Nicole knew that the Mounties wouldn’t be happy with her for yet again telling Waverly something that she wasn’t meant to. It was a lot harder to lie than she thought it would be. Especially to Waverly, who was making it increasingly difficult to not get attached to this backwater town. 

 

“Can we go back to sleep?” Waverly’s question brought Nicole back from her thoughts to her tiny apartment above a bar. She looked at her friend and her drooping eyelids and wanted to just agree and go back to sleep but she felt like she needed to apologize for being so cagey. 

 

“I’m sorry Waves. I know I keep getting all weird whenever my past comes up, there’s just,” she tried to think of what to say next “Some things I am really trying to forget.”  Waverly’s face softened, and she nodded. 

 

“Okay. We don’t have to talk about it anymore. So can we sleep?” 

 

“Yeah,” Nicole turned off the lamp and shifted to the edge of her bed, trying to give Waverly as much room as she could, though not forgetting that Waverly had had her head on her shoulder and that her arm had been around Waverly when she had woken before her bad dream. 

 

They both layed on their backs staring at the ceiling, they both had things on their minds. Nicole couldn’t help but wonder what was going to happen when Bobo was caught and it was safe for her to go back home, and whether Waverly would miss her. While Waverly was thinking about how much she wished she was back in Nicole’s arms where she felt safe. 

 

Waverly kept staring at the ceiling until she could hear Nicole snoring quietly before she closed her eyes and flung both her arms over her face. The reality of her feelings were starting to become clear very very quickly. Nicole shifted in her sleep, moving closer to Waverly and reaching an arm out across the bed and brushing against her shoulder as it fell right next to her. She felt her skin warm at the brief contact and her heart picked up when she peeked out from under her arms at a sleeping Nicole who looked calmer than Waverly had ever seen. Waverly shifted herself to face Nicole, putting her hand right next to Nicole's. She edged her finger to touch her hand, momentarily worrying that she Nicole was going to pull hers away when she moved. But instead she moved her hand on top of Waverly’s and intertwined their fingers before pulling both hands closer to her. Waverly knew Nicole was asleep, and that it probably had nothing to do with her, though it didn’t stop her hoping that maybe it was a sign that Nicole was having the same feelings as her. Waverly closed her eyes again and drifted to sleep once again. Hoping that when she woke up Nicole would still be holding her hand.  

 

Nicole wasn’t still holding her hand when she woke up again. She wasn’t even facing her. But she could feel her breath against her shoulder and her arm around her waist. Waverly opened her eyes to find that it was morning. The wind during the night had turned into a full blown storm and Waverly was surprised that it wasn’t cold in the apartment. Somebody had closed the window, presumably Nicole. Waverly closed her eyes again, trying to fall back to sleep. Wanting to take advantage of not only being spooned by a very warm Nicole, as well as the last good night’s sleep she had had since before she moved back to the homestead with Wynonna when she came back. 

 

Wynonna must have sensed that Waverly was thinking about getting back to sleep because her ringtone started screaming from Waverly’s phone. Waverly moved to find her phone but was stopped by a strong arm around her waist pulling her closer while mumbling through her sleep. Waverly smiled for a moment, basking in how nice it was to wake up with Nicole, in her arms. Before Nicole yanked her arm from Waverly’s waist and shot up. Waverly found her phone in the covers and answered it, “Good morning Wynonna.” Though nobody replied, she could hear three voices arguing on the other end. “I assume you guys need my help, so I’ll be at the station soon.” She hung up the call, knowing Wynonna would call back when they were finished bickering. She turned to Nicole, who was lying on her back behind her. “Good morning Nicole,” she said turning to face the half asleep redhead, who looked at her for a moment before smiling and replying. 

 

“Morning, Waverly. I take it that was your sister, and that you’re gonna sleep in my bed then bail before breakfast.” She was still smiling and there was no tremor of annoyance in her voice that Waverly was going to leave. Though Waverly still felt a slight pang of guilt at leaving, especially since she had been Nicole’s little spoon not 2 minutes earlier. 

 

“Yeah sorry. But can I take a raincheck on that breakfast?” Waverly was climbing across Nicole to get off the bed since it was against the wall on her side, (the side she had slept on, not her side) when Nicole placed a hand on her waist to get her attention, causing Waverly to freeze where she was. Straddling Nicole's hips. 

 

“How about we do lunch today? since you need to skip breakfast. Unless you and your sister have some kind of agreement where you sleep in girls apartments and then she calls with an excuse so you can leave.” She raised an eyebrow, smile spreading to a grin. Waverly couldn’t help notice that Nicole’s hand was still on her waist, and that she was still straddling her hips while they had this conversation. The fact that it felt familiar and completely normal to her was not lost either.

 

“I would love to get lunch with you, Nicole. I’ll text you later, I gotta go before Wynonna either kills or kisses one of the other two.” They both laughed, but neither made an attempt to move. Waverly’s phone rang again. “Yes, Wynonna I’m coming now,” She winked at Nicole before climbing over her and grabbing her shoes as she headed out the door. 

 

Nicole waited until she heard Waverly finish running down the stairs before sighing and sitting up again. Waverly was something else, and it was proving to be more of an issue than Nicole had originally thought. She decided not to think about it.

* * *

 

 

“He was part of a gang of cattle rustlers that Wyatt caught in fact he…” Waverly trailed off, noticing that her sister wasn’t listening and was instead staring at her boss Dolls while he worked out “So yeah I was straddling Nicole when you called this morning.” Wynonna’s head snapped back to look at her, her mouth having fallen open.

 

“You what now?” 

 

“You weren’t listening even listening to me. You called me here to help but you’re ignoring me to oogle Dolls. So if we’re done here I’m going to go and shower before I meet Nicole for lunch.” Waverly started to collect her papers from the desk, stopping when she found that Wynonna was sitting on some of them. She tried to slide them out, and when that didn’t work tried glaring at her sister who was back to ogling Dolls. She cleared her throat and slammed her hand down on the desk. “Wynonna! Can you pay attention for two seconds and get off my papers, your ass is going to wrinkle them.” Wynonna jumped and Dolls stopped to stare at the two of them, causing Wynonna to blush. 

 

“What crapped in your cornflakes this morning? You seem more irritated by me being distracted than normal.” 

 

“I just have other things I would rather be doing today so I don’t really appreciate being ignored when I’m trying to help you end this stupid curse.” Waverly collected the last of her papers and shoved them into her bag before storming out of the black badge office. She heard Wynonna call after her but ignored her, knowing that she would come after her. She slammed the door behind her and turned to head out, instead slamming into something. Someone. She dropped her bag and her papers fell out all over the floor. She didn’t even look up to see who she had walked into before she started to collect her papers. She didn’t look up until she heard a familiar voice apologizing. Nicole’s voice. 

 

“Where’s the fire?” She had knelt down to help pick up Waverly’s papers. 

 

“What are you doing here?” Waverly barked. She didn’t mean for her tone to sound so accusatory but from the look on Nicole’s face she guessed it had sounded like it. “Sorry, Wynonna put me in a mood. What are you doing in the police station?” 

 

Nicole stared at Waverly, trying to think of an excuse for being at the police station other than being there to tell the Mounties that she messed up again. It also occurred to her that it may not matter because after this she may be moved elsewhere and never see Waverly again. Which was the last thing she wanted, as much as she didn’t want to be in witsec, she was really starting to like Purgatory. Waverly was still staring at her, and starting to look a little confused that she hadn’t answered her question. Before she had a chance to think of an explanation one of the mounties appeared behind Waverly. 

 

“We’re ready for you Miss. Smith if you could come through,” She turned and walked down the hall to the interrogation room. Waverly gave Nicole a weird look before standing again and walking past Nicole and out of the building. Nicole watched her leave, she wanted to go after her, but knew she didn’t have the answers that she would want. Instead she walked down the hall and into the interrogation room. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waverly does something of questionable legality in order to get some answers, and then confronts Nicole when she does

After hearing her say his name and then showing up at the station with no explanation Waverly had decided it was time to do some digging and get some answers. She was hunched over her laptop, reading about her brother-in-law Bobo and what he had been up to since he and Willa left Purgatory. She was stunned to find that he had been the head of a crime syndicate and underground drug ring. She’d also discovered that he had been brought down by a cop in the Toronto PD. Though she couldn’t find a name and photo to prove her hunch. She knew she shouldn’t, but she typed his name into the Black Badge server. Instantly finding what she was looking for. Her hunch was right. Nicole Smith wasn’t who she said she was. 

 

She could hear the heavy fall of her sister’s feet on the steps before she called out to her, but she didn’t move from her spot on her bed, reading the file on Nicole. Wynonna slammed open her bedroom door before grinning at her sister. “We found another one babygirl. Doll’s is bringing the mounties along to go find him because BBD told him to play nice while they were here. We’ll be gone a few days. Will you be okay here for a few days or do you want to come too.” She dropped herself onto the end of Waverly’s bed. 

 

“No, I’ll be fine. If I get lonely I’ll text Nicole.” She hadn’t looked up from her laptop, or even really thought about what she was saying. She was far more occupied by the file in front of her, the one outlining all of Nicole’s undercover intel and the details surrounding her being placed into witness protection. 

 

“You sure? I mean I could always stay here and get Doll’s and the mounties to bring the rev head back here to be put down.” Waverly didn’t have to look up to see the look on her sister’s face saying that she really wanted to go, and was only offering to stay for Waverly.

 

“I’ll be okay, you go,” Wynonna jumped to her feet and ran out of the room. 

 

“See you in a few days, call me if you need anything.” She heard the front door slam before she finished reading the file and closed her laptop. She was faced with a new dilemma. Was she going to tell Nicole that she knew the truth? She decided no, not unless she had to. 

 

It was only 10 minutes later when she got a text from her oldest sister Willa that changed her mind. She had to tell Nicole that she knew, and that she was in trouble.

* * *

 

 

Nicole checked her phone for the tenth time in as many minutes. Waverly didn’t normally take more than a few minutes to reply, especially not when she was in what Nicole had dubbed  _ planning mode _ . Which she had been up until the radio silence. She tried not to worry, instead focusing on the punching bag in front of her and on getting all her frustration out. There had been no progress in finding Bobo, and Waverly had been off doing whatever it was she did with her sister for the past few days. So Nicole had been alone with her thoughts, and with her frustrations. Nicole kept at the bag until her shoulders were aching and her face was dripping in sweat before checking her phone again. Half expecting to find nothing and having to face the reality that maybe Waverly had decided all the deflecting wasn’t worth her time anymore. To her surprise she had multiple texts from Waverly, all telling her that she was coming to the homestead later and that she wasn’t getting out of it. There was also a text form Wynonna, asking her to go see Waverly because she was going out of town for a couple of days and didn’t want Waverly to be alone. She replied to both agreeing to go out to the homestead. Then decided that she was going to need a shower before she saw Waverly. 

 

She was still in the shower when she heard a pounding at the door before hearing a voice shouting out for her from the main room. Waverly’s voice. She turned off the water and grabbed her towel, covering herself mere seconds before Waverly barged into the small bathroom and right into Nicole. Who was too confused by the intrusion to register what Waverly had been shouting. She also hadn’t noticed that she was looking anywhere in the room besides at Nicole, who was still covered only by a towel. 

 

“Oh thank god you’re okay! Why haven’t you been answering your phone?” Waverly’s tone was dripping with concern, something that Nicole couldn’t think of a single reason for. Well maybe one, but not one that was plausible. 

 

“I was in the shower, I didn’t hear my phone… Are you okay? You seem stressed.” It was at that moment that Nicole realized why Waverly wasn’t looking at her. She was drenched, and only covering herself with a towel. 

 

“I was worried about you,” Waverly noticed Nicole looking at her clothes on the counter and turned around to face into the other room, pausing for a moment before continuing, “I did some digging on you an-”

 

“You did what now?” 

 

“Please don’t be mad at me, I know it’s a little weird. But I knew you weren’t telling me the truth about why you came here so I did some research and found out the real reason. Kind of by accident actually…” Waverly braced herself for Nicole to blow up and start yelling but nothing happened. Nicole said nothing for long enough for Waverly to turn around and find her half dressed and staring at her.  

 

She took a step towards Waverly and spoke to her in a voice barely above a whisper “And what exactly did you find?” 

 

“You’re real name is Nicole Haught. You’re a cop with the Toronto PD and you brought down Bobo Del Rey’s network, but he got away so now you’re in witness protection.” 

 

“How did you find all of that out? That’s not exactly stuff that can be found using google,” Nicole took another step towards Waverly, forcing her to take a step back. 

 

“My sister isn’t a normal cop. Though I’m fairly sure you already knew that since you are one. Her boss, Doll’s, he works for the government so I may have used their server. Are you mad at me?” Nicole couldn't help but laugh. 

 

“No, actually I’m really impressed that you could find all that out, as long as you haven’t and don’t tell anybody else.” 

 

“Of course! I wouldn’t tell anybody. There’s a tiny problem though Nicole, Bobo is from here. Like this is where he grew up.” Nicole stared at her, the gravity of the new information setting in. 

 

“How did I get sent to his hometown? I mean how did nobody catch that?” She walked past Waverly into the man room and started pacing “What if he comes back here? He wants me dead Waverly.” 

 

“That’s the real reason I’m here. Bobo may be my brother-in-law…” Nicole stopped dead in her tracks and turned to face Waverly. Her face awash with panic. “And she said he was coming back to town to get get something. I don't want to freak you out or anything, but-”

 

“What if it’s me? What if he knows I’m here. I need to go tell the station and tell the mounties, I need to get out of here.” She grabbed her jacket, before realizing that she wasn’t wearing a shirt. Then pulled a shirt over her head and headed for the door. Waverly’s hand caught her wrist. 

 

“Tiny problem, they left town with my sister and Doll’s as backup. But look, don’t panic, you’re gonna come out to the homestead and lay low until they get back.” 

 

“They’re with your sister? Can you text her and get them to come back?” Waverly could see the panic in Nicole’s eyes growing with each passing second, she wanted to calm her down. 

 

“If that’s what you want. I didn’t want to say anything without you being okay with it.” Waverly took out her phone and called Wynonna, asking her to put one of the mounties on the phone before handing the phone to Nicole. 

After she hung up Nicole seemed to have calmed down a lot, “They won’t be back until some time tomorrow night, so I’m gonna hide at the homestead. If that’s still okay with you?” Waverly nodded and offered Nicole a half smile. Nicole tried to smile back, but it looked incredibly forced, not that Waverly didn’t understand. Nicole started to throw things in a duffel bag before turning back to Waverly and gesturing for her to lead the way. Waverly took her hand and lead her down the stairs and through the bar. Nicole kept a hold of Waverly’s hand the whole drive back to the homestead. Waverly was glad her jeep was an automatic so she didn’t have to let go to drive. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get intense and honest.

By the time the two of them were back at the homestead Nicole had mostly calmed down, though now she was obviously exhausted from the stress. Waverly wasn’t surprised when she came down the stairs and found her passed out asleep on the couch, and she certainly wasn’t going to wake her up. She figured that as long as she was asleep she wasn’t stressing herself out and coming up with different scenarios in which Bobo found her. Waverly stepped outside to call Wynonna to see what was happening on her end, but Doll’s answered the phone. 

 

“Waverly, is everything okay?” He was panting slightly on the other end of the call, and she could hear Wynonna yelling at him.

 

“Where are you guys? What’s going on? Where is Wynonna?” Waverly tried to keep her voice calm, but she was starting to panic for both Wynonna and Nicole’s safety. 

 

“We’re in the city hunting this revenant. She’s fine, she shot a gas bottle and it exploded. Everybody is okay. How’s Nicole?” His breathing was leveling out and his voice was calm, she could hear Wynonna more clearly now, yelling about how cool it looked when the revhead blew up. 

 

“She’s okay, well I think she is, she’s asleep. When-” 

 

“Hey babygirl, we’ll be back sooner than we thought. See you in a few hours.” The line went dead and Waverly couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of her sister blowing up a gas bottle, or at the fact that it would inevitably be a lot of paperwork for Doll’s. Waverly sat on the step outside the house, trying to give herself a moment to take a breath and catch up. She knew there was a storm coming, the sky was already dark despite it being mid afternoon.

* * *

 

 

It was well into night before Nicole was woken by a clap of thunder that made the homestead shake. There were no lights on and the only light in the room was a camping lamp that was sitting on the table in the middle of the room. Nicole looked around the room, confused, trying to figure out where she was and why it was so dark. Panic was starting to set in until she saw Waverly, curled up in a seat across from her asleep. Nicole stared at her for a moment, taking in how calm and beautiful she looked. Another round of thunder shook the house, waking Waverly. 

 

“Hey, you’re awake.” Waverly’s voice was soft and her eyes looked heavy still. 

 

“Hey. I could say the same to you. When did the power go out?”

 

“Not long after we got back, it’s pretty normal for it to go out during a storm,” Waverly stood up and stretched, stifling a yawn. “Wynonna and them are on their way back now, she called while you were asleep.” She wanted to keep Nicole from stressing herself out again. She could already see that it wasn’t working. Pulling a blanket off the back of the couch and wrapped it around herself, Waverly sat down on the couch next to Nicole. 

 

“So this will all be over soon, assuming nothing goes wrong.” 

 

“And then what? You go back to toronto and carry on with your life like this never happened?” Her face had fallen at the thought that Nicole was going to leave again. Waverly watched Nicole, looking for any sign that maybe she wasn’t going to leave and forget about her. She didn’t give anything away. “I mean there’s no reason for you to stay here. I’m sure you can’t wait to get back.” Waverly couldn’t stand to look at Nicole anymore, something in her gut was telling her that when she did respond it wasn’t going to be what she wanted to hear. 

 

“Hey. Waves hey, just because I might be free to go home soon doesn’t mean I’m going to forget about you,” Nicole paused, staring to the camping lamp. “The more I think about it the more I think I might want to hang around, maybe transfer to the sheriff's department here. There’s nothing for me back in toronto, but here…” she trailed off. Shaking her head to herself. “Though I guess after all this maybe it’s best if I do leave.” Waverly reached out to put her hand over Nicole’s. 

 

“What are you talking about? I’m sure Nedley would be over the moon to have you as a deputy.” 

 

“What about you? Would you be okay with me staying here after all this is over?” Her eyes were glued to Waverly’s hand on top of hers. Waverly squeezed her hand, 

 

“Of course I’d be okay with you staying here. We’re friends.” The words somehow felt like a sucker punch to the guts and like a weight off her shoulders at the same time. She was relieved that Waverly still considered her a friend after all the lying about who she was and why she was in Purgatory. It also felt the door on anything more than friendship had closed though. Despite whatever she had thought there was between them, it seemed she had been wrong and that Waverly only saw her as a friend. 

 

“You don’t even know me though… Everything I’ve told you has been a lie.” 

 

“About your past yeah, and your last name. Still not sure how you got away with not using the name they gave you,” Nicole laughed. Remembering the reason, which was her getting flustered by how beautiful Waverly was when they first met. “But you didn’t exactly have a choice. I still know you, and I can learn about your past after this is all over if you’re willing to tell me…” She raised her eyebrows at Nicole, making it clear that it was a question rather than a statement. 

 

“My parents aren’t divorced, I have an older sister, Tonia. And I lived in Calgary until I joined the academy and moved to Toronto to follow a girl about 5 years ago. That’s it, that’s the truth.” She leaned back into the couch, throwing her head back to sigh. She couldn’t believe how much it had all being weighing her down until it was all gone and she finally felt like she could breathe easy. Well almost all gone, she was still keeping one secret from Waverly. One she wasn’t planning on telling her. Even if she asked. Nicole was pretty sure she already knew about her feelings for her though, and was just being polite to save her feelings. Which Nicole appreciated, but it didn’t make it hurt any less.

 

“You moved across the country for a girl?” Waverly seemed surprised at this new information. Nicole was more concerned with the realization that she was going to do it again when this witness protection thing was over. 

 

“Yeah, her name was Payton. I thought I was in love with her. Maybe I was. It ended though… Rather spectacularly if I’m being honest.” She laughed to herself remembering what was now a fond memory. Waverly on the other hand was waiting for her to tell her what happened. “She thought I was cheating on her because I was working late on a case, so she came into the station one day and started yelling at me and telling me that she never wanted to see me again. Throwing everything off my desk. Pouring my coffee in my lap the whole nine yards. Then stormed out before I had even figured out what was going on,” Waverly looked horrified. 

 

“Why did you laugh about that? That’s terrible.” 

 

“I don't know really. I guess I can the the humour in it now. It was so over the top and dramatic, like everything with her was. So it was just a fitting way for our relationship to end. Plus it was a wake up call for me to stop dating girls who I had nothing in common with just because they smiled at me and said the right things.” 

 

“So what kind of girls do you date now?” Waverly tried to hide the ultimatum in her question.

 

“I don’t. Payton was the last girl I dated. Girls like the whole cop thing until the find out about the reality of the job beyond the uniform. After that they lose interest pretty quickly. In fact I think I’ve been on three dates all up since her and I broke up. All disasters.” 

 

“What kind of girls would you date then...” She was pretty sure that Nicole was going to pick up on what she was asking soon if she hadn’t already. 

 

“I don’t know Waves,” She laughed “What do you look for in a guy, keeping in mind your track record with Champ.” She earned herself a shove from Waverly. 

 

“Somebody who’s kind I guess. Champ was a lot of things, some even good, but he was never kind. There was always something more to anything nice he did. Always conditions. So I guess I just want somebody who is kind and does things because of unselfish reasons.” She was staring at Nicole. Willing her to catch on to what she was saying. To either tell her that she had feelings for her too, or let her know that she didn’t so she could get over hers. 

 

“That’s very sweet Waverly, I hope you find him” A lie. She hoped she could be that person for her. 

 

Waverly on the other hand was ready to scream if Nicole didn’t catch onto what she was trying to say soon. She had intentionally not used gender pronouns. She had an idea. A possibly stupid and impulsive idea that had she thought through more she probably would have thought better of.

 

“Who says I haven’t already found her,” Nicole’s head whipped to look at her. Finally. It seemed like she was getting it. The only question remaining in Waverly’s mind was whether or not Nicole felt the same way about her. 

 

“Oh. Well then I hope it works out with her.” Waverly was ready to bang her head against the wall. She couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t getting it. She sighed, she was running out of ideas. She let the silence hang between them. Hoping it would lead to Nicole catching on.

 

After a few minutes of awkward silence Waverly stood up. “I’m gonna go take a shower, will you be okay on your own for a little while. Wynonna and the rest should be back soon.” Nicole nodded. Waverly went up stairs. Before coming back to get another camping lamp. Leaving again without a word. Leaving Nicole alone with her thoughts. 

 

Nicole shifted herself to lie on the couch with her head hanging off upside down. She couldn’t figure out why Waverly had gotten so cold so quickly, and whether she had missed everything about her being gay. Her thoughts drifted to the girl Waverly was into, not that she could think of who it might be. She was jealous of whomever she was nonetheless. She heard a car pull up outside, and while she assumed it was Wynonna and the mounties back from wherever they had been, something in her gut was telling her to hide. So she turned off the lamp and his in the closest cupboard she could find. Realizing when she close the door how dumb of a hiding place it was. Before she could even think about where else to hide the door swung open and heavy steps echoed through the house. Just one set of footsteps . When a voice finally spoke it wasn’t Wynonna’s. It was a voice that struck fear into Nicole and made her very glad she was hidden. As well as very worried that her hiding place wasn’t good enough. 

 

“Where are my sisters-in-law? I know somebody is here. The door was unlocked,” His steps were slow, and he seemed to be looking around the house. “I need you girls to help me track down something. Willa has assured me it’s here somewhere.” His footsteps stopped outside the cupboard that Nicole was in. The panic set in. Followed by adrenaline. She was ready to fight if he found her. She heard the floorboard upstairs creek above her. It seemed that Bobo had too because he walked towards the middle of the room quickly. Nicole could hear Waverly’s steps above her, she didn’t seem to be trying to keep quiet. Maybe she wasn’t even aware of their visitor. The footsteps continued. She was walking quickly, and loudly. 

 

“Okay look. It’s you! You’re the one I have feelings f-” She cut herself off, “Bobo? What are you doing in my house?” Nicole could hear the stress in her voice. 

 

“I have been told something that I’m looking for might be here... And you are going to help me find it.” 

 

“What are you looking for?” 

 

“I think you know what I’m looking for. In fact Willa told me that you would be the one who hid it. So where is it Waverly? The sooner you tell me the sooner I will be on my way.” Anger was growing in his voice. 

 

“I’m sorry Bobo, I have no idea what you’re referring to.” Nicole was beginning to grow frustrated by not being able to see what was going on, or be able to help. She knew it was best to stay where she was though. She heard another car pull up outside. She hoped this time it was Wynonna. She heard multiple doors open then close, then Wynonna’s voice saying that it was going to be more difficult to find the whiskey with no power and light.

 

The door swung open again as she finished her thought. “That is if I couldn’t find it with my eyes closed.,” She chuckled to herself, but the footsteps accompanying her didn’t respond. “Babygirl we’re back. Where’s Nicole? The suits are here to-” She stopped dead. The next thing she heard was the sound of guns cocking and heavy shuffling. 

 

“Put your guns down or Waverly will pay the price!” That was the final straw. She opened the door and stepped out. 

 

“Take me!” She hadn’t even fully processed what she was saying before it came out of her mouth. “Take me and leave her alone. I’m the one you really want to hurt.” Bobo looked shocked, but it quickly twisted into a grin. 

 

“Officer Haught, I’ve been looking for you. Who would have thought you would end up here, with my family.” She hadn’t noticed the gun in his hand until her used it to gesture to Wynonna before aiming it back at Nicole

 

“We are not your family,” Waverly stomped on his foot and twisted from his grip. Positioning herself in front of Nicole, while pushing her behind her sister and Doll’s. The other four people in the room had their guns trained on Bobo. Though he didn’t seem phased. His eyes were locked on Nicole. Nicole stared back at him, knowing very well what he was capable of

 

“Don’t you worry Haught. Even if I go down you won’t be off the hook. I have ways to make you pay.” A gunshot rang out, quickly followed by another on... 

 

Waverly’s ears were ringing. 

 

Doll’s was holding Wynonna back. She was screaming at Bobo.The mounties were dragging him from the room. 

 

Nicole was underneath her. Wynonna lifted Waverly. Then she was leaning against Wynonna.

 

She could smell blood. She could see it seeping through her shirt. All she could feel was her heart pounding against her ribs. She kept her eyes closed. Knowing that if she looked at the blood again she would pass out. She could feel Wynonna's breath against her cheek, but she couldn’t concentrate enough to hear what she was saying. 

 

The next thing she felt was a shaky touch over her side, dressing the wound. She didn’t need to open her eyes to know it was Nicole. She kept her eyes closed, trying to listen to what Wynonna was saying to her. 

 

“You’re going to be fine babygirl. Don’t worry. It’s just a graze. You’re going to be fine. I promise.” she heard another voice. Nicole’s voice.

 

“I’m so sorry Waverly. This is all my fault.” 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicole goes back to her old life and Waverly is moping so Wynonna decides to get Nicole back

Waverly was lying on her bed, staring at her phone, willing it to go off and be a text from Nicole. Though she hadn’t heard from her since the day after she was shot by Bobo when she had gone to the station with Wynonna to give their statements. However the two hadn’t spoken at length. After Nicole had been assured by Waverly that she was in fact okay she had blurted out that she was going back to Toronto that afternoon and that she’d decided not to try and stay in Purgatory after all. Of course part of Waverly understood, Nicole blamed herself for her getting shot. Another part of her didn’t understand at all though, it wasn’t Nicole’s fault. It was Bobo’s. He was the one who shot her. 

 

Nevertheless she hadn’t been able to change her mind in the brief window she had before she got called in to make her statement and Nicole hightailed it out of the station. Then the whole town. Which left her wondering if there was anything she could have done differently. One thing came to mind. Her leaving Nicole downstairs alone because she was getting frustrated with her apparent inability to take a hint. She hadn’t even been showering like she had told Nicole, she was just sitting in her room. Trying to think through all the things that she had thought were signals that Nicole liked her back. Coming to the conclusion that even if she didn’t like her back she should out her feelings out there. She was glad to still have that information to herself now that Nicole was gone though. She could blame all her lying in bed and moping on losing her friend and being shot, not that Wynonna had really seemed to notice with her new vendetta against Bobo. She was in and out of the homestead all hours. Never staying for more than an hour, but always briefly checking in on Waverly. 

 

She checked her phone once more before standing up and tossing it across the room into her armchair on her way out of the room. She wasn’t going to reach out to Nicole first. She didn't want to make herself that vulnerable to somebody who had decided to leave and act like they had never met. 

 

She poured herself a glass of whiskey and sat out on the porch, waiting for Wynonna to come back.

* * *

 

 

She called the number for the sixth time. Determined to keep calling until Nicole picked up, she didn’t care what she was doing. Her baby sister was missing her and she was going to do whatever it took to get her back. She held the phone near enough to her face to hear if it was picked up, but after getting voicemail five times she was she had her thumb hovering over the end call button ready to redial. 

 

“Wynonna, why do you keep calling me?” Nicole’s voice came through the phone, momentarily spooking Wynonna and making her drop her phone. “Wynonna? I swear if you called me six times just to not speak to me.”

 

“I’m here. But you aren’t, which we need to discuss.” Nicole sighed on the other end of the call.

 

“I didn’t really have a choice in the matter. I have a job, that I meant to be doing right now. So if that’s all you have to talk about I guess we’re done?” Nicole had already had this conversation with Wynonna. More than once, and she’d only been back in Toronto for a week.

 

“Look, Nicole. I know she hasn’t tried to talk to you, but she misses you. A lot. I just want my sister to be happy.” 

 

“It’s out of my hands Wynonna. I applied for a transfer before everything happened and it got declined so even if I wanted to be back in Purgatory there’s no way they would let me. I have to go, but if Waverly asks tell her that I miss her too.” 

 

“Tell her yourself, Nicole.” Wynonna hung up as she opened the door to the black badge office. “So how’s getting Nicole back going? Because convincing her isn’t working.” Dolls was sitting at the table, phone in one had. The other held up at Wynonna signalling for her to shut up. 

 

“Thank you Captain, I’ll get the sheriff to sign off on the transfer and send the forms your way.” He hung up, grin on his face. “Just need Nedley to sign off on the transfer and Nicole will be back in two weeks.” 

 

“Good. Waverly’s moping is getting insufferable. It’s the exact reason that I don’t have friends.” 

 

She couldn’t see it but Dolls was giving her look as if to say  _ “I’ve seen Waverly’s moping, there’s more than friendship going on there.” _ He was starting to get a much clearer understanding of Wynonna, and how little attention to detail she paid. He thought better of bringing it up though. After all he didn’t even know if Waverly was aware of her feelings for Nicole. “I’ve got to go to Nedley to sign the forms. Look through those files and try to figure out where we’ll find the group of revenants terrorising the town.” 

 

Wynonna flipped open the file before flicking through all the pages and closing it again. She pulled out her phone and called Waverly, but got no answer. She let out a long groan before accepting that she was going to have to read the file herself.

* * *

 

 

Nicole was sitting at her desk, head against the stack of files she was going through. She hated being on desk duty, she wanted to be out on the streets doing real police work. She turned her head to check the time, she still had 6 hours to go until her shift ended, but she was still counting down the minutes until she could go home. Not that she was going to do anything when she got there. Other than lying on her couch in the dark with her headphones in. Her tolerance for the noise and close quarters within the station had diminished while she was gone, and she hadn’t adjusted back yet. By the end of the day she was mentally fried and going home to her quiet apartment that was all she wanted to do. She considered calling Wynonna again, just so she could waste a few minutes while she pitched different reasons for her to return to purgatory, or excuses to reach out to Waverly. Ultimately she decided that it wasn’t the best idea, after all she was trying to leave the whole witness protection thing behind her, and keeping in contact with Wynonna was the exact opposite of that. 

 

By the time she took a break from reading the files she was desperate to get out of the station and get some fresh air. So desperate that she was walking through the streets in a downpour. Coffee cup clasped in her hands keeping them warm in the freezing rain. She looked down at the number scrawled on the cup along with a note from the barista telling her she was happy to see her back again. She briefly considered keeping the number, the girl was cute after all. Plus it was probably time that she moved on and started dating again. Though she felt like maybe calling the barista would be falling into old habits. Plus she wasn’t over her feelings for Waverly, and didn’t want to be. 

 

Clamoring up the steps back to the station, Nicole only had one thought on her mind. Call Waverly. Despite the nagging thought in the back of her mind telling her that Waverly wouldn’t want to hear from her Nicole hit call and ducked into an empty hallway. Her hands were shaking, both from the freezing rain and nerves. The phone rang, and rang. It went to voicemail, Nicole’s heart rate picking up a beat at the sound of Waverly’s voice recording on the other end. She hung up without leaving a message and headed back to her desk to find the stack of files had nearly doubled. 

 

Nicole was eyeing the clock when her captain left his office, though she didn’t notice until he was standing in front of her desk looking down at her. He didn’t speak to her, just gestured for her to follow him as he walked back to his office. 

 

She closed his door behind her, the captain sitting back behind his desk with his hands over a file with her name on it. He opened the file and she could see her denied request for a transfer out of Toronto inside, along with a series of other papers that looked official. Nicole had no idea what was happening, first desk duty and now a private meeting with her captain who has a file with her name on it. The captain gestured for her to sit, though Nicole shook her head. Whatever this meeting was about she had a feeling in her gut telling her to stay standing. 

 

“Do you remember when you applied for a transfer out of Toronto before you went into hiding?” 

 

“Yes Sir. It was declined.” 

 

“Well I revisited it after you got back since you don’t seem to be adjusting back as well as we hoped. Then a Deputy Marshall Dolls called me and informed me that the Purgatory Sheriff would be willing to take you on as a deputy.” Nicole’s mind was swirling, trying to work out what he was saying. How the Purgatory Sheriff found out about her looking for a transfer. It all seemed to make sense when she factored Wynonna and her insistence in getting her back to Purgatory.

 

“Are you saying I’m being transferred to Purgatory, I’m being sent back?” 

 

“Unless you would rather withdraw your request. Before you answer I think you need to think it through,” He stood from behind his desk and walked to the door, holding open for Nicole. “Take the rest of the night off and come back to me with your response tomorrow morning.” The door clipped the back of Nicole’s heel as she left his office. She gathered her things from her desk and left the station.

* * *

 

 

Something about living so high up made Nicole nervous since returning to her apartment, she used to love being high up, but now everything about her apartment seemed off. Starting with how high up it was, and how cramped it was with stuff that she had been meaning to throw out but never got around to. The list of things that weren’t right ended with the fact that it was too small. Sure her apartment in Purgatory had been three rooms, but this one was considered big for the city. Nicole missed having a yard, and hallways, and a full kitchen, things she would probably never be able to find or afford in the city. She had grown accustomed to the quiet and to having complete privacy in her home. All of these were thoughts that went through Nicole’s mind while she sat on her couch after getting home. There was an increasingly long list of reasons for her to take the transfer, and only one real reason not to: How would waverly react after she had told her that she wasn’t coming back, then not talking to her. Did she hate her now? She decided the only way to know was to ask her. She had just hit call when she looked at the time and quickly ended the call. It would be nearly 1am in purgatory, plus she still hadn’t returned her call from earlier. 

 

The sound of her phone buzzing on the coffee table woke her from her half sleep daze on the couch, she answered without looking to see who it was, assuming it would be either a prank call or somebody from the station calling her with an emergency. To her surprise it was neither, it was Waverly. 

 

“Hey, you called. Twice. Everything okay?” Waverly’s voice was hushed soft. 

 

“Yeah, everything’s okay. I just wanted to call to ask how you were doing.”

 

“Ask away, Nicole.” Nicole couldn’t help but smile at how easy and natural it felt to talk to Waverly. Also because of the relief she felt knowing that Waverly was still willing to talk to her. 

 

“How are you doing, healing well?” 

 

“Yeah. Probably gonna have a scar though. How are you? Happy to be home again?” The last part of that made Nicole’s chest tighten. She wasn’t home, she didn’t think she had one anymore, and she definitely wasn’t happy. 

 

“I’m okay, still adjusting. Might be in vain though. I’ve been approved for a new transfer… if I want it.” 

 

“Oh?” There was an edge to her voice that Nicole recognized, she was upset, “Where to now?”

 

“Well actually it’s the Purgatory Sheriff's Department. I think I have your sister and her boss to thank for that,” She took a small breath in, “I guess part of why I called is to ask if you would rather I stayed away. You know with everything that happened-” 

 

“We’ve been through this Nicole, me getting hurt doesn’t change that.” 

 

“You didn’t just get hurt Waverly, you got shot… and it was my fault. If I hadn’t been there you would have been fine.” 

 

“It wasn’t your fault, and I don’t blame you. If you hadn’t been there I would have been worried sick,” She paused but Nicole could tell that she wasn’t finished. She leaned back into her couch, resting her phone on her shoulder after putting it on speaker, and waited for Waverly to collect her thoughts and finish talking. “Take the transfer, Nicole. Come back to Purgatory, unless you don’t want to anymore, but please don’t think for a second that I don’t want my best friend back.” 

 

“Okay, I’ll take it. I’ll be back in a couple weeks.” Neither of them said anything more, nor did they hang up. Instead they stayed on the phone, enjoying the quiet. It became clear to Nicole that Waverly had slipped back off to sleep when she could hear her breathing change, “Goodnight, Waves. Sweet dreams.” There was a slight mumble on the other end of the call before Nicole hung up.

* * *

 

 

The next day Nicole walked into the station and straight to her captain's office, he beckoned her in. “I’m taking the transfer.” He nodded before turning a set of papers towards her and handing her a pen. 

 

“Sign these, and then in 10 days you’re finished here. Start in Purgatory in two weeks.” Nicole scribbled her signature on all the papers, then turned to leave the office to do her paperwork. “Officer Haught, It’s been a pleasure to be your captain. I hope you find whatever it is you need in your new life.” 

 

“Thank you, captain. I think I will.” The two nodded at each other for a brief moment before he asked her to close the door behind her. She did and retreated to her desk, pulling her phone out to send Wynonna a text  _ “You win, Earp.”  _ The pile of case files didn’t seem that bad now, it was only for another 10 days and then she would be able to go find a new home. 

 

About an hour later she got a response from Wynonna:  _ “Thank god! It was either you or Champ, and we both know that that buffoon shouldn't be given a service weapon or authority. Don’t mistake my effort for anything more than that, Haughtpants.”  _ She was not looking forward to all the Haught jokes now that her real last name was out there.


End file.
